The crowd at the church cheer, laugh and cry as they watch a video of Officer Swasey ice skating.

COLORADO SPRINGS, CO - NOVEMBER 29: Sarah Donteville hugs Kaitlin Churchill after service at Hope Chapel on November 29, 2015 in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Officer Garrett Swasey, who was killed in Friday's shooting at a Planned Parenthood, was a church elder with the congregation and a large part of the community at the church. (Photo by Brent Lewis/The Denver Post)

COLORADO SPRINGS — The space where he normally stood was empty. The guitar he always played was silent. At the first Sunday service at the evangelical Hope Chapel following the death of university police officer and co-pastor Garrett Swasey, the loss was palpable. But roughly 100 church members — who resembled a family more than a parish — came to celebrate the man who taught them about service, and honor the sacrifice he made. “For Garrett, it was all or nothing,” said fellow pastor Kurt Aichele.

Swasey, 44, was among the first officers to respond to the attack at the Planned Parenthood clinic on Friday. Swasey and two civilians were killed in the shooting. Twelve others — including five other police officers — were injured.

The congregation on Sunday raised their hands in the air as they sang songs that spoke of rejoicing in hope. As a list of upcoming Christmas events was read, a woman sobbed into a tissue.

Cheers, laughter and tears poured out of the crowd as they watched an old video clip of Swasey performing an ice-dancing routine with his partner. Before he became a police officer for the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, Swasey was a junior national couples ice-dancing champion.

The giggles about Swasey’s pink and black costumes turned into silent smiles as the group watched Swasey flash his famous grin at the judges.

“That’s our Garrett right there, you guys,” a man called out.

“Just look at that smile,” a woman breathed.

“As we mourn today, we can have a different perspective of hope,” Aichele said. “Friends, we have hope.”

Through tears, fellow pastor Scott Dontanville asked for the name of the man suspected of killing Swasey. The man’s name — Robert Lewis Dear — was shouted out from every corner of the room.

Dear, 57, surrendered and was arrested more than five hours after the shooting began.

Forgiveness was one theme Swasey spoke of often in his own sermons. Kindness, service and attentiveness were others.

“Let us not harden our hearts to the Gospel,” Swasey told the group during his final sermon two weeks ago.

Swasey laughed at the little things as he delivered his last teaching. Between deep chuckles, Swasey used his career in law enforcement to help parishioners understand the importance of being attentive in how they serve God and each other.

Knowing who that man was made it all the more difficult to tell his children that he was gone, Aichele said. The sounds of Swasey’s children moaning and crying for their father are ones that Aichele said he will never forget.

Swasey’s widow, Rachel, and children, 11-year-old son Elijah and 6-year-old daughter Faith, were not at the service. Rachel Swasey released a statement thanking the community for its support during “this very difficult time.”

“While the nation now knows Garrett as a hero who gave his life for others, he was also a devoted husband of 17 years and a wonderful father to his two children,” her statement read. “His greatest joys were his family, his church and his profession. We will cherish his memory, especially those times he spent tossing the football to his son and snuggling with his daughter on the couch.”

The statement adds: “In the end, his last act was for the safety and well-being of others and was a tribute to his life. What we need most today, and in the coming weeks, is your prayers for our family and for others who were impacted by this tragedy. We are grateful for the tremendous outpouring of love that has come from the community and across the nation.”

Dontanville was one of three church elders who spoke about their friend during Sunday’s service.

“We’re going to go on as Rachel said, and as Garrett would have us,” he said.

“You don’t realize how much you love someone until you can’t tell him anymore,” Dontanville said.

Swasey’s family joined the church in 2001. Since then, Swasey took an active role in leading care groups and was an avid teacher of scripture and guitar.

Jennifer Churchill said Swasey was the first church elder her family bonded with when they joined eight years ago.

Churchill had a running game in which she would tease Swasey — a die-hard fan of the Patriots football team — about upcoming games every Sunday. Last weekend, Swasey won their final bet when the Patriots beat Buffalo.

Swasey had planned to watch the Patriots’ Sunday matchup against the Broncos with his son, who would have inevitably rooted for the Broncos, Aichele said.

Jordan Steffen was the legal affairs reporter for The Denver Post. She left the organization in June 2016 after joining in January 2011. Her past coverage areas included breaking news, child welfare, the western suburbs and crime. She was raised in the Colorado mountains and graduated from the University of Colorado Boulder.

Today, one out of every three men imprisoned in Colorado -- and four out of every five women inmates -- say they have some type of moderate to critical mental health need, according to the Colorado Department of Corrections. The number of inmates with mental health needs in Colorado's prisons has steadily risen in the past two decades.

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